A second chance for justice
Subtitle: the prosecutions of Gabe Watson for the death of Tina Thomas
By: by Asher Flynn and Kate Fitz-Gibbon
Contributors: Fitz Gibbon, Kate
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Newcastle
Language: eng
Number of pages: 270
ISBN-13: 9781443842020
Subjects: Trials, litigation; Trials (Murder); Scuba diving accidents; Uxoricide
Description: Tina Thomas would have been turning 35 on the day that her husband of less than two weeks stood trial for her murder in the Jefferson County Courthouse in Birmingham, Alabama, US. Eight years and almost four months had passed since Tina died on her honeymoon, while scuba diving near the SS Yongala wreck on the Great Barrier Reef in Northern Queensland, Australia. During this period, there had been extensive police investigations conducted by local, state and federal agencies in Queensland and the United States; a coronial inquest; a ridiculed plea bargain; a successful appeal against the manifest inadequacy of a 12 month sentence; 18 months served in Borallon Correctional Centre in Queensland; a grand jury indictment in Alabama; several days spent in an Australian immigration detention centre; an international agreement not to seek the death penalty; a deportation and several pre-trial hearings -- every step of which was covered by endless public, media and social commentary. As the trial of Gabe Watson on a charge of capital murder for pecuniary gain began, so too did the possible final chapter in this tragic, drawn-out story. Monday, 13 February 2012, provided the date for the commencement of Gabe's capital murder trial in Alabama, and the possibility that a second chance for justice could unfold...or could it? From the perspectives of the police investigators, the prosecution, the defence and Tina and Gabe's families, this book examines the ongoing quest for justice in the controversial double prosecution of Gabe Watson for the death of Tina Thomas.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [251]-261).
Table of contents: title: Introduction : The Watson case; title: pt. I. Justice in Queensland; title: Operation Charlie Oswald; title: Delaying justice? the prolonged police investigation; title: "Dealing" with Gabe; title: "Bargaining" with the Thomas family; title: pt. II. Justice in Alabama; title: Prosecuting Gabe...again; title: Murder for money : proving the motive; title: The fatal dive; title: Judging "the character" of Gabe; title: pt. III. Achieving justice; title: Gabe's acquittal; title: (In)justice for Tina? (in)justice for Gabe?; title: A second chance for justice.